e3

Yesterday was the last day of E3 2015. I got a chance to attend and check out some of the really cool upcoming games — Street Fighter V! Disney Infinity 3.0! Mario Maker! — and even got to take selfies with some of my favorite industry personalities. But 10 years ago, I was taking a whole different kind of photo.

2005: E3 has been bubbling up in the early 2000’s and at the show, it’s getting harder and harder to find the games as you drown in a sea of promotional toys and “booth babes.” I’m slowly shuffling forward in a neverending line of nerds, but instead of inching toward a playable demo, I’m — oh, wait, it’s my turn.

I walk up a couple of faux stone steps, and there are three “booth babes” standing at the top. All day, they’ve been posing with men up there. I say “hey, so I’m doing something a little different,” and the second one of them starts to nod, I drop to the ground and slump down the steps. My friend says “it’s okay, this is his thing,” and snaps the picture. The women laugh as we walk away. The next 400 men squeeze between the women and wrap their arms around them, proudly posing for their photo as if they’ve done something other than stand in line for it.

Well, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, more popularly-known as E3, came to a close yesterday. They’re not letting anyone in anymore – believe us, we tried to get back in and play dumb. Oh, sure – there will still be parties and events around Los Angeles that should torture commuters in the city for another couple of days, but as of tonight, the oasis of games and goodies in the Los Angeles Convention Center will disappear until their release dates.

No doubt, you’ve heard about some great stuff swirling about the game industry. There’s new systems, handhelds, games, apps and services. But as a father, it’s hard to parse through the “important” stuff.

Allow us to cut through the crap for you, and let you know about a couple of things that stood out to us at this year’s E3. We’re by no means telling you about everything. Actually, we’ve only got a small snapshot of E3 for you, but we felt that these are some awesome titles to look out for. Also check our gallery (at the bottom of every page) for screenshots of all the games we mention.